Advocacy center: Protecting children should be first priority

Abused children need help and, if they don't get it right away, they'll definitely need it later, Michelle Loranger told Bristol Community College students during an April 16 seminar.

Phil Devitt

Abused children need help and, if they don't get it right away, they'll definitely need it later, Michelle Loranger told Bristol Community College students during an April 16 seminar.

The executive director of the Children's Advocacy Center of Bristol County said adults have an ethical obligation to help in any way they can.

"There should be no higher responsibility in our lives than to protect children," she said. "If you feel like a child is being harmed, make it your business to be involved as a reporter and a protector of children."

Since the agency's inception in 2007, the center has seen a 59 percent increase in the number of child victims receiving services, according to Loranger. Of the nearly 2,500 children served to date, 90 percent were victims of sexual abuse.

Loranger said 90 percent of child sexual abuse cases are perpetrated by people the children know and trust.

The Children's Advocacy Center is a Fall River-based nonprofit that serves young victims of sexual and physical abuse. Victims are interviewed by trained professionals in bright, cozy rooms, with other law enforcement and health professionals watching on closed-circuit television nearby. The center also provides medical examinations in an equally non-threatening space and serves as an information clearing house and directory for people with questions.

Westport Police Det. Jeff Majewski, who works with the 58 Arch St. center on cases, stressed the importance of interviewing children in a space designed specifically for them, noting that hospitals and police stations aren't the most comfortable environments in the best of circumstances.

Majewski, who joined Loranger for the seminar, said most abuse cases are "chronic," meaning they often do not come to light until after repeated offenses.

"In a perfect world, (abuse) would never happen or we would pick up on it after the first time, but that is not the case," Majewski said. "The reality is there's a pattern."

Loranger said national statistics show that one in four girls and one in six boys will be victims of sexual abuse by the time they turn 18. Stressing the importance of education, she said everyone in attendance could be part of the solution.

"If we can stop one person from being the victim of child sexual abuse in my tenure, I feel we will have accomplished something, but my goals are much greater," Loranger said.

The seminar, which fell during National Child Abuse Prevention Month, was organized by BCC students Eliana Lopes and Alison Christian for a community leadership course. Lopes said working at the Children's Advocacy Center for the past two years has changed her for the better. In addition to the seminar, the students also oversaw The Clothesline Project, a display of T-shirts illustrated with messages of empowerment for abuse victims.